By Katie Fiorello, Health and Wellness Teacher, Reading Memorial High School

With funding from both REF and the RMHS PTO, the Health and Wellness Department purchased 28 HP ProBooks and a laptop charging cart. This quarter, students have used the ProBooks to access online health textbooks, complete class activities, and conduct research.

Freshmen Health students access information from their online health textbook:

Next quarter, students will use the laptops to create presentations on health related topics, create Public Service Announcements on anti-tobacco and vaping via video-based software, and create presentations about newborn needs and infancy.

Junior Health students conducting research:

“This reliable, accessible, innovative laptop technology has greatly enhanced all of our lessons and activities in class and has allowed us to create more project-based and hands-on learning activities for our students!” -Katie Fiorello

Expanded Core Values Literature Collection!

By Kim Adamo, JW Killam Elementary School Librarian

Reading elementary school libraries have new resources to help teachers and librarians develop student’s social, emotional, and mental health. The libraries purchased Open Circle books to enhance the collections and assist with Open Circle lessons.

First grade Killam teacher Mrs. Catherine Rice visits the Open Circle collection weekly to prepare for her lessons and recently used the newly purchased book Too Shy for Show and Tell. After sharing the book with students and having them draw a picture and complete a worksheet, the students no longer felt too shy to share their work and showed their drawings to their classmates. This lesson was so successful that the book is being passed along to other first grade teachers!

Killam Elementary School Open Circle Book Collection:

Earlier this fall, Killam Elementary School used the Open Circle book The Empty Pot at an all-school assembly on the core value ofTrustworthiness and discussed what it means to be trustworthy.

This Killam library book display on the core value of Trustworthiness features many of the newly purchased Open Circle books:

“The REF grant money has been a huge benefit to our staff and students.” -Kim Adamo

Mindfulness Community Speaker!

Dr. Willard presented a program about helping both children and adults be more mindful in their lives. The presentation was filled with information about the benefits of mindfulness, examples of easy and inexpensive mindfulness activities, and tips on how to select mindfulness activities that various age groups will enjoy. The presentation was well attended by parents, teachers, librarians, doctors, nurses, and community members.

“Thank you for your support!” – Chris Lotterhand

Internet/Social Safety Media Speaker!

By Richele Shankland, Parker Middle School Principal

REF sponsored Internet/Social Media speaker Katie LeClerc Greer, a technology safety expert. She spoke to middle school students during the school day and also gave an evening presentation to parents about internet safety. Topics included updates on technology trends and dangers, privacy settings, digital tattoos, cyberbullying, and using technology responsibly.

“Thank you to the Reading Education Foundation for their funding of this important cause!” – Richele Shankland

NEW! Rolling Admissions Professional Development Fund!

Reading teachers are taking advantage of a new funding opportunity for professional development. In its first five months, REF has distributed $15,000 to Professional Development initiatives across the district. REF funded 8 grants, affording 34 teachers and staff members training in programs such as literacy intervention, discipline strategies, technology, and administrative leadership training.

Kara Gleason, a History Teacher at RMHS, used Professional Development funds to attend a summer technology course at Simmons College and found the course materials “exceptionally relevant” to her teaching.

“Thank you again for your support of my professional development which has not only impacted me but will influence my students and colleagues as well. I am very grateful for all of the resources and supports than the REF provides for the Reading Public Schools.” – Kara Gleason

]]>http://readingef.org/ref/index.php/2018/01/23/grants-in-action-january-2018/feed/0Festival of Trees 2017http://readingef.org/ref/index.php/2017/12/19/festival-of-trees-2017/
Tue, 19 Dec 2017 13:37:02 +0000http://readingef.org/ref/?p=852read more →]]>Our most successful Festival of Trees ever! This year we saw over 2100 visitors and grossed over $30,000 – an all new record! All profits from this fundraising event will go towards 2018 teacher grants benefiting Reading Public Schools.

In addition, much appreciation to Sartell Electric for lighting; Bertucci’s in Reading for the pizza and dinner fare; the Woburn Showcase Cinema and Reading IMAX for donating popcorn; the Reading Rotary Club for donating candy and cotton candy, and staffing the food booth; Professors Market for the delicious desserts; Reading Stop & Shop for donating cookie frosting; Jackie and Mario Antimone for donating paper goods; Lauren Bennett for our festive posters and logos; Reading Cooperative Bank for the water; Reading Facilities Department, Parker Middle School and the Custodial crew for the space, electrical technology and support; Daniel Tompkins for making the risers; Kenzie Neary for the photography; Alice Grimes and Lu Yao Friedmann for help with preparation and organizing our high school volunteers; all our wonderful volunteers–students and adults alike; and of course, our beloved Silent Auction & Tree donors (see a complete listing at the end of this post).

This year we focused on local entertainment, and had a fabulous array of adult and youth musicians, singers and story-tellers. A heartfelt thanks to our adult performers: Reading Community Concert Band, the Colonial Chorus Players, Voices of Hope choral group, and singer Taylor Hilliard; and for the wonderful performances from our inspiring youth: CBTWEEN, The Means of Production, RMHS Select Chorus, RMHS Jazz Band, Coolidge Bell Choir, andViolins by Vivienne Langlois and Graham Hardin. Last but not least, thank you to Creative Arts for the popular card-making activity, and leading the sing-a-long; as well as to our favorite storyteller, Eileen Litterio.

We could not have done it without you and all the support from this community!

By Steve Cogger, Physics Teacher, Reading Memorial High School

Computing in the arts is a new class for high school juniors and seniors that allows them to explore art and music through design and computational thinking. REF funding provided circuit boards and electronic parts for a musical instrument design project.

For the MIDI project, student created instruments include a guitar and xylophone:

This project also involved teacher collaboration; the blue plastic pieces holding the speakers and the main extension board were printed on the 3-D printers that REF funded for Kent Hatton and Chuck Strout.

Proud students display their optical harp, drum kit, and guitar:

Band Room Dynamic Soundfield!

Coolidge middle school music students can now better hear their teacher.

Using a wireless microphone transmitter and loudspeaker has transformed the band room and allows Cheryl Webster to teach without vocal strain and voice loss.

“Since obtaining the Dynamic Soundfield I can speak to the entire band classroom using a normal speaking voice and every student in the room can hear me clearly – no matter where in the room they sit,” says Cheryl Webster, Band/Music Teacher at Coolidge Middle School. “I can’t imagine teaching large ensembles without it!”

Digitized Reading with iPads and Subtext!

The upstairs sixth grade team at Parker Middle School has been using REF funded iPads to support student learning. Students are able to create and play Kahoot and Quizlet as test review tools, revise and edit essays in Google Docs, view functions in Plus Portals, create Google slide presentations, access the Math in Focus textbook, and research topics for various writing and content area projects.

“The use of the iPads as a technological tool has become a supportive and essential component of the learning experiences for the students on the team as the teachers continue to plan new ways of implementation in the classroom,” remarks Donna Martinson, 6th grade English Language Arts Teacher at Parker Middle School. “Thank you REF for your support!”

Green Screen Video Studio is expanding its reach!

Students at Coolidge Middle School have been creating videos using iPads, microphones and an animation and drawing application, along with Green Screen Technology (see Grants in Action, Fall 2016 to learn more). Using the app DoInk (http://www.doink.com/) the students shoot scenes in front of a green screen and then add various video or image backgrounds to them.

The application of this technology is expanding, as Christine Steinhauser, Library media specialist at Coolidge, led workshops in April for other Reading teachers, allowing them to learn how to use the the app and incorporate making videos into their teaching and projects.

Then off to the fields where the Killam community creates their living portrait! Artist Daniel Dancer is hoisted up in the bucket truck to capture the bird’s eye view!

“This whole experience has been very motivating for many- old and young alike. Daniel’s message about taking different perspectives, collaborating, caring for each other and the planet truly couldn’t have happened at a better time.”

Check out the amazing video of the event!

Elementary Makerspace Robot Coding Kits being used for Hour of Code and More!

by Tracy Thrasher Hybl, Library Media Specialist Birch Meadow

This video, posted on the Killam Facebook page, was taken during the Killam Elementary’s Hour of Code features the coding robots purchased with a REF grant.

Killam’s 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classes got to program our MIP and Dash robots during their library classes.

Access for All Elementary Library/Media Collection now in full use

by Krista Erikson and Melissa Davis

Each school now has the collection available to all students including ones with language
based learning challenges. Resources, including audio book kits and readers, dyslexia friendly books and low level-high interest books.

“I … encourage all of our staff and students to check books out from this collection. I have also circulated the audio book players and audio books to many of our classrooms for teachers to use during read aloud time.” – Kim Adamo, Media Specialist at Killam Elementary School.

Core Value Literature Collection now available at each elementary school

“This is the “golden” book shelf we use to house this collection. We painted the book shelf for this collection gold because we think that these books help teach our students how to follow “the golden rule”- to treat others the way we want to be treated.” – Kim Adamo, Media Specialist at Killam Elementary School

]]>Festival of Trees 2016: An Unprecedented Success!http://readingef.org/ref/index.php/2016/12/21/festival-of-trees-2016-an-unprecedented-success/
Wed, 21 Dec 2016 22:55:34 +0000http://readingef.org/blog/?p=584read more →]]>Festival of Trees brought in over 2000 visitors (a new record) and REF grossed over $28,000 (another new record)! All profits from this fundraising event will go towards 2017 teacher grants benefiting Reading Public Schools.

We could not have done it without all the support from this community!

In addition, much appreciation to Sartell Electric for lighting, Bertucci’s in Reading for the Pizza and dinner fare, the Reading Rotary Club for manning popcorn and cotton candy sales, Professors Market and Subway of Reading for the delicious desserts, Lauren Bennett for our festive posters and logos, Reading Cooperative Bank for the water, Cube Smart Self Storage for keeping our supplies, the Reading/North Reading Chamber of Commerce for their time and support, all our wonderful volunteers–students and adults alike–and of course, our beloved Silent Auction & Tree donors (see a complete listing at the end of this post).

Coolidge 7th Graders Drumming Away!

By Anna Wentlent-Choral Director and General MusicTeacher Coolidge Middle School

The seventh graders at Coolidge Middle School have been studying the music of West Africa in general music class using the instruments purchased with an REF grant. Each day they practice echoing, improvising, and soloing on different percussion instruments, including talking drums, djembes, tubanos, gankogui bells, cow bells, shekeres, and rattles. Class ends with a traditional West African drum ensemble. See a video below!

Library Makerspace Robots

The Library Media Specialists are very excited to introduce robots into our curriculum this school year. The Week of Code takes place in December and many schools will be kicking of their robot use then. So far we have been working as a team to develop lessons including coding and programming as well as sharing ideas of how and when we will use the robots with the different grade levels. At Wood End, we tested the robots in after school and summer programs. Students worked in groups and independently to program the robots to do various tasks. They learned how to connect the robot to the IPADs and then how to create a program to control the robot. The robots were cruising up and down the halls of the school! We are looking forward to using them with more students as the year goes on and the kids can’t wait to get theirhands on them!

Killam prepares Art for the Sky!

By Amy T. Hussey, M.Ed, Killam Visual Arts Specialist Teacher

The J.W. Killam community is going to be the first school in Massachusetts to experience – Art for the Sky with visiting artist, Daniel Dancer on November 7th, 9th, and 10th!

Art for the Sky is a three day artist in residence program where the entire school community comes together to experience adventures in creativity and perception and to deepen our relationship to sky, earth, and one another while creating a giant living painting made of people!

To learn more about Art for the Sky, please visit artforthesky.com and be ready to be amazed!

In honor of school tradition and to raise environmental awareness, the entire school community has chosen our gigantic living painting to be a Koala! The school is buzzing with related lessons and learning about our beloved mascot and threatened species from habitat simulations in PE, learning Wings to Fly (Daniel Dancer’s original song about using our “Sky Sight”) in music classes, to research in the media center. Check out the photos of some of our preparations. More to come!

Above Left: Ambitious fourth graders are raising money to support Koala preservation. Above Right: Beginning of our school- wide Killam Koala bulletin board. Students are adding information from their research about Koalas and the threats they face.

Coolidge Middle School creating videos that are out of this world!

By Christine Steinhauser, Coolidge Library Media Specialist/Teacher

Using materials provided by the REF Grant, the students are using Green Screen Technology, also known as color keying or chroma keying to produce videos. Using the app DoInk (http://www.doink.com/) the students shoot scenes in front of a green screen and then add various video or image backgrounds to them, including images of places that are out of this world! This grant has allowed the students to be in the director’s chair- to facilitate their own productions.

As the students learn to use the software and equipment, the creativity and authentic learning by the students is showing up in almost every class in the form of presentations and projects. Skills that the students are learning include problem-solving, presentation, file management, copyright, and many others.

One class is currently working on a collaboration project. The students are “reading” a book about holidays around the world. They are placing themselves on the page of the book, and reading about the holiday. The project will be shown to the school during the holiday assembly in December.

Update on RMHS Physics Lab Grant 2013

By Steve Cogger, RMHS Physics Department

We are now starting our fourth year with the lab equipment provided by Reading Cooperative Bank through REF. Since we received the equipment over 1000 students have been able to engage in hands-on discovery learning in physics. The lab materials provide real-time feedback and provoke interesting discussion among the students as they try to make sense of what they are seeing. As teachers we are grateful for having equipment that lets us implement a proven physics curriculum.

RMHS Computing in the Arts

By Steve Cogger, RMHS Physics Department

In the Interactive Device Design class students are utilizing user-friendly microcontrollers to create visual and musical devices that respond to human inputs. Once the basics of the programming environments and hardware capabilities are understood, students will design and build actual devices in their area of interest.

To date the students have been learning the basics sensors and how to develop programs that read the sensors. Next quarter the students will be doing open-ended design projects starting with musical instruments.

These boards were built with REF provided materials from this grant and materials made in the 3-D printers provided by a previous REF grant. The blue plastic parts in the photo are brackets and holders that will let students mount the sensors and other parts designed using LEGO connectors and beams.

Elementary School Open Circle Resources

Thanks to the REF grant each elementary school library was able to add new titles to our collections that support Open Circle. At Wood End, I was able to purchase twenty-five new titles that enhance the Open Circle lessons as well as support the Core Values at our school. In addition, these titles also incorporate mindfulness and strategies to help students when facing a problem. I was able to create a small area of the library to house our Open Circle Collection. Teachers can now easily access needed materials. So far, this section of the library has seen a lot of use!

]]>Grants in Action Spring 2016http://readingef.org/ref/index.php/2016/05/11/grants-in-action-spring-2016/
Wed, 11 May 2016 12:57:34 +0000http://readingef.org/blog/?p=539read more →]]>Here are are some great stories about some of our grants from 2015.

Numeracy is the New Literacy: Elementary Math Teacher Training with Professor Mahesh Sharma

This past fall 30 math teachers across the district took part in a 2-day workshop to develop effective strategies that will ensure students master number concepts consistently, fluently and with understanding. The workshop focused on understanding how children learn mathematics, why learning problems occur, and how to help them learn mathematics better.

Teachers and administrators found it so valuable that the district has expanded its work with Professor Sharma so many more staff members at all grade levels will benefit. He has since worked in a select classrooms and gave a community presentation on “Prerequisites Skills and Mathematics Learning.” You can check out his handout here.

Below are what a few have to say about Professor Sharma’s work.

“Professor Sharma demystifies math instruction by showing how the development of numeracy parallels the development of literacy. For example, he talks about a kindergarten student’s understanding of letters and the sounds the letters represent, and then discusses the importance of the corresponding concepts related to numbers. This information is critical for teachers to deliver quality math instruction, yet it is often absent from teacher training programs. As a result, Professor Sharma’s ideas are essential in helping students reach high levels of academic achievement.”

“Mahesh Sharma’s workshop is one of the best professional development offerings we have experienced. Staff feedback has been so positive, and we can already see how it will have a positive impact for our students.”

Coolidge’s Team Polaris learning about “Eating with a Social Conscience”

Students on Team Polaris at the Coolidge Middle School have been enjoying the unit “Eating with a Social Conscience”. Students have read the book The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child by Francisco Jimenez and have been discussing the role the migrant worker has in the production of food. Students have also started seeds in the classrooms to be planted outdoors in the courtyard. The team is investigating ways to build greenhouses to be placed in the courtyards to grow vegetables and flowers all year. Using recycled soda bottles seems to be the answer! The program also includes a guest speaker (a parent) coming in to talk to us about HYDROPONICS.

REF bough several IPADs for 7th and 8th grade teams to facilitate the reading program at Coolidge Middle School. The English department has used them extensively. The Subtext app has allowed the team to monitor students’ reading comprehension by embedding questions in text that lets teachers see their students’ answers in real time. Students read online text and use online tools such as highlighters to monitor their comprehension. This practice is essential for them as they must read online for the new state assessments.

They have also been able to develop a more extensive independent reading program as a result of the grant. Subtext also comes with Accelerated Reader. It contains online quizzes for thousands of reading books. Students are able to choose a quiz, take it and the teacher receives the grade. This year, Team Polaris students alone have read close to 900 books because Accelerated Reader makes accountability for independent reading easier.

“The Coolidge ELA department is so grateful for your help and for improving the reading culture at our school.” – Laura Warren

]]>Grants in Actionhttp://readingef.org/ref/index.php/2016/01/10/grants-in-action-4/
Sun, 10 Jan 2016 20:30:50 +0000http://readingef.org/blog/?p=503read more →]]>Take a look at some of the 2015 grants in action at Reading Public Schools!

Parker Middle School Balcony Stage Screens

Ms. Quackenbush and the “Google Geek Squad” received a $4000 grant from REF as partial payment for two auditorium TV screens that give balcony seats visual access to the stage. With additional donations from the Young Women’s League of Reading, the Drama Club, and many other contributors, Parker was able to complete the project.

Reading Help Desk is Back!

The new school year has brought many new things to Reading Help Desk (RHD), including new people, new technology , a new teacher, and now a new class! The REF grant provided RHD with new MacBooks, iPads, and much more for development and class use.

The Common Sense Media Teen Panel, Connecting Families — RHD is putting together a panel of high school students to share their digital life experiences with elementary and middle school parents

Implementing Digital Bytes from Common Sense Media in 9th grade Advisory classes — RHD will be facilitating the lessons with technology advisory teachers about how to make smart decisions later this semester.

To connect with RHD more you can follow them on our social media websites, or contact us via email.

Reading’s First Science Expo Day a Huge Success!

REF co-sponsored this first-time event with the high school robotics team, The Robockets, and the Reading Public Schools to celebrate enthusiasm for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math study. The day-long event consisted of hands-on experiments for kids, robot demonstrations by The Robockets and other local teams, and a science fair poster exhibit by any child who wanted to participate. Hundreds of kids and their families attended the fun-filled day! Check out some of the great poster experiments presented!

Parker’s Go Pro Cameras allow Students to Capture and Share School Events

A REF grant awarded two Go Pro cameras and cool wearable accessories that have been a huge success and have become extremely popular at Parker Middle School.

Currently, an 8th grade group is working on a long-range project to analyze footage during lunch and recess over several days and weeks to create a mini-documentary. They are acting as anthropologists, studying human patterns and non-verbal communication. This group has also successfully used an app on their phones through the school’s wi-fi to connect the camera, so they could watch the filming in real time.

Breaking our record with over 100 donated trees, and over 40 silent auction items, and the outstanding help of our fabulous sponsors, donors, volunteers, visitors and supporters, we raised $25,000 towards grants for Reading district teachers.

Thank you all for your wonderful contributions and support – we look forward to sharing more about the teacher grants this will fund!

A special thank you to our event sponsor, RSM International, as well as our Silver Sponsor, NorthernBank and Trust and our Snowflake Sponsors: Stonebridge of Burlington, South Street Custom Builders, J & B Crosby and Co., and Faulkner Legal Consulting. In addition, much appreciation to Sartell Electric for lighting, Bertucci’s in Reading for the Pizza and dinner fare, the Reading Rotary Club for manning popcorn and cotton candy sales, Jordan’s IMAX for the popcorn, Reading Cooperative Bank for the water, Cube Smart Self Storage for keeping our supplies, all our wonderful volunteers, students and adults alike, and of course, our beloved Silent Auction & Tree donors (see a complete listing at the end of this post).

Expanding the Reach of The Rockets Help Desk

The Rockets Help Desk (RHD) is a student-driven technology integration team that solves real world problems in a high school setting and creates media that teaches students, faculty and the public. REF is funding additional hardware, software and accessories to enable them to meet their overwhelming demand. Rockets Help Desk is a truly authentic learning experience.

Check out the informative tutorials and happenings on the RHD website.

RHD recently had an article published in EdSurge describing the evolution of the team from a pilot program to a credited class that makes video tutorials for edtech tools, learns from edtech professionals, and consults with teachers who want suggestions for ways they can incorporate tech into their classes.

Coolidge and Parker Students create Breathtaking Digital Art

Art Teacher Sarah Doane showcases artwork created on iPads from REF 2014 grant. Numerous different art techniques have been explored and enjoyed by students.

3D Printing Initiative is up and running at RMHS

This year teachers and students are getting familiar with the capabilities of theMakerBotReplicator 3D printer. Teacher Kent Hatton has developed several projects for next year’s curriculum where students will design, construct, evaluate, and then redesign their devices following an engineering design workflow.

The printer has already had a much broader impact on all students than expected, even with the limited use in the Introduction to Engineering curriculum.

Printing models of student work really keeps them involved and excited in the design process

3D printed models of tutorial parts help students to visualize more complex geometry used for teaching the Autodesk Inventor CAD software tools.

Students get really interested and inquisitive about the design possibilities with 3D printing. This leads to discussions about the limitations of manufacturing processes and how to account for them in their designs.

Challenge Day at Coolidge Middle School

Earlier in the school year, the Coolidge Middle School community participated in the Challenge Day, an experiential workshop for students and adults. The program was designed to empower participants and create the change in thinking necessary for a more positive school community.

Sarah Marchant, Coolidge Principal, told REF about the event.

“The impact this experience has had on our building community is amazing! The event increased our empathy towards each other. It was evident that everyone has some sort of challenge in their life, be they big or small, and that we can appreciate that these challenges shape who we are.

And it’s important to get to know each other for who we are, be proud of who we are, and to be empathetic that even if we don’t know all there is to know about each other, that everyone is special, everyone deserves respect, and to be empathetic.

Students have been kinder and more understanding with each other. The teachers who participated really appreciated that many more challenges face our students today than they realized, and we have to consider each child as an individual, and to meet them where they are at, not just academically but emotionally.”

Elementary School Ukulele Program

Reading now has a Ukulele strings program in all five elementary schools! After piloting the program successfully at Wood End and Birch Meadow, REF funding a grant to bring the program to the other three schools.

Pictured here are 4th and 5th graders at Joshua Eaton, Barrows and Killam playing their Ukuleles!

RMHS Robockets

RHMS hosts FIRST Robotics Competition in Hawkes Field House, bringing “Varsity Sport for the Mind” to Reading

40 Teams from the New England District and hundreds of spectators enjoyed wonderful day of robotics. The event, sponsored by the FRIST robotics organization, is free to spectators to encourage and promote student interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math.

It was a very successful event for the Robockets. They ranked 9th overall making it to the Semi-Finals as well as winning the Entrepreneurship Award. Teacher Chuck Strout was named finalist for the Woodie Flowers Mentor of the Year Award and Reading community member Sanat Patel was awarded Volunteer of the Year award. There was also a surprise appearance of Woodie Flowers and Dean Kamen, founding members of the FIRST organization.

Watch the video to see the Robotics robot in action. To learn more about the Robockets, visit their website.

Community Outreach at Library Teen Tech Week

The high school Robotics team members gave an interactive demo and ran a free 2 hour workshop for students in grades 6-12. They assisted younger robotics enthusiasts in building robots with the OWI 4 Mode EM4 Motorized Robot Kit.